THE BUZZ: Sales numbers have come in today for how game hardware and software did in North America for November, and one particular console was clearly on top.

Yes, indeed—the Xbox 360 won the month, thanks in large part to the wide array of Black Friday sales. How well did it do? Stat-tracking organization NPD stated that “The gap between 360 sales and sales of the next best selling platform was the largest we’ve seen since December 2008 when the Nintendo DS was the top selling system.”

Here are the hardware numbers for November 2011:

Xbox 360 – 1.7 Million

PlayStation 3 – 900,000

Nintendo Wii – 860,000

Nintendo 3DS – 795,000

Nintendo DS – 350,000

EGM’s TAKE: The $199 PS3 bundle was a fantastic option for those wanting a PS3, so I thought maybe the Xbox 360 and PS3 would be closer sales-wise. In terms of year-over-year sales, however, the Xbox 360 was up 24%, while the PS3 was up 70%—so as strong as the Xbox 360 was, Sony has reason to be proud as well.

Still, congrats go out to Microsoft and their little wonder console. Six years after its release, the Xbox 360 is doing fantastic sales-wise, on a level consoles almost never do this far into their lifespan.

Eric L. Patterson got started via self-publishing game-related fanzines in junior high, and now has one goal in life: making sure EGM has as much coverage of niche Japanese games as can realistically be crammed in. Eric’s also active in the gaming community on a personal level, being an outspoken voice on topics such as equality in gaming and consumer rights. Stalk Eric on Twitter: @Eric_EGM. Meet the rest of the crew.